Selfie opportunity gets deadly as elephant tramples man in Zimbabwe

A Zimbabwean man, Moses Ndlovu, lost his life whiles attempting to get a selfie opportunity with a male elephant. His two friends, however, escaped unhurt.

The body of Moses was found with multiple injuries after the incident which police confirmed happened last Saturday. The incident occurred in Plumtree, a town located in the Bulilimamangwe district in southwestern Zimbabwe.

The state-owned Chronicle newspaper reports that the deceased in the company of two other friends, Mutheseli Sibanda and Magezi Nyathi, saw three elephants in a bushy area and tried to drive them to a clearly in order to take photos with them.

The elephants – a bull along with two males – reportedly charged at the three. The two others managed to safely escape whiles Moses who the male elephant caught up with died after he was trampled upon.

A few weeks ago, a woman was also attacked by a lion in a game park in the country’s east. Ngoni Hera was attacked by the big cat while she was leaning on its fence.

Apparently her partner was taking pictures of her when the lion appeared at the other side of the fence, she suffered serious injuries to her right hip and arm during the attack.

The park was named as the Eco Game Park in Headlands about 140km from the capital Harare.

Attacks by lions inside tourist facilities are extremely rare in Zimbabwe. A Japanese woman was killed by a lion at the Lion and Cheetah Park in Norton in 2005, while former education minister David Coltart’s daughter was mauled by a lion at a park in Gweru in 2010.